Quintette (2018) by René Lussier

Critiques du DC René Lussier Quintette

Thevinyldistric.com, october,2018.
René Lussier Quintette, S/T (Circum-Disc) The versatile, avant-friendly Canadian guitarist Lussier has an extensive background, with a long string of releases both solo and as a leader. This is the latest. For those who dig the mingling of composition and improv yet are to some degree fatigued with standard instrumentation of the endeavor (you know; sax, keys, bass, drums), this offers Lussier on his main axe and daxophone, Julie Houle on tuba and euphonium, Luzio Altobelli on accordion, and Robbie Kuster and Marton Maderspach on drums (in the left and right stereo channels, respectively). But don’t go thinking of this as instrumentally esoteric for the sake of it, as the music flows naturally and invitingly, leaning as much into avant-rock (with shades of RIO) as free jazz. A delightful release, on CD only. A

Voir Montréal

Réjean Beaucage 25 septembre 2018

René Lussier pouvait être content, le 4 septembre dernier au Cheval blanc à Montréal, lors du lancement du disque de son nouveau projet, ce quintette qui rassemble tuba, accordéon, deux batteries et, bien sûr, sa guitare électrique. Lussier «fait sortir le méchant» comme il le faisait avec son groupe Grand Vent, et certains passages rappellent de bons moments du Trésor de la langue. En concert, le groupe a énormément gagné en cohérence depuis son premier concert au FIMAV en 2017, mais sur disque, c’est encore 10 fois mieux. Côté son, d’abord, parce que le compositeur s’est offert un ensemble qui a de la texture à revendre et que le mixage des deux batteries est parfait. Et puis pour entendre des solos de guitare groovy comme il se retient trop souvent d’en faire.

Medium 5/9/2018

Marie-Pier Frappier
Pupitreuse et journaliste. Intéressée par les enjeux de politique internationale, les féminismes et la musique actuelle.

Le trésor du big bang

Les doigts rouillés par l’été suintant rêvaient de se délier. Les oreilles ravies par les polyphonies étrangères n’avaient plus rien écouté d’inouï depuis. Les yeux pleins de montagnes attendaient dans le rouge feutré du Cheval Blanc plein à craquer le Grand Boum… « Les gens ne croient plus dans les disques, ils croient que la musique arrive toute du bon dieu astheure! » Oui, on pourrait quasiment se mettre à y croire maintenant qu’on a entendu cet ensemble-là. Êtres ou forces structurant l’univers, cette musique est de cette envergure, en posant ses accords entre le début et la fin du monde.

Le concert du René Lussier Quintette a commencé avec des accents si funky que les sourires fendaient la foule en sorte d’éclairs. Le public ne savait plus où donner du tympan avec ces batteries qui se faisaient face, se narguant et se complétant. Ils sont deux, Robbie Kuster et Marton Maderspach, mais on les reconnaît tout en les confondant. Sorte de « céphalodrum », pour reprendre une pièce de l’album des cinq talentueux musiciens. C’est peut-être le moment d’utiliser le mot symbiose, mais on peut aussi le garder pour plus tard. Sur cette première pièce, on entendait peu l’accordéoniste, mais ce n’était qu’une question de temps avant qu’il ne se venge pour de vrai.
Ce premier morceau a parfois pris des accents du Nightmare d’Artie Shaw, surtout avec les prouesses de la tubiste, Julie Houle. On recule, on avance, on ne sait pas ce qui nous attend en terme d’aventure. René Lussier non plus, lui qui vient de rompre une corde en riant. Après s’être habilement débrouillé pour la changer — c’est comme un dieu, on vous l’avait dit! — il exécute ces doigtés singuliers que l’on reconnaîtrait entre mille et qui font piaffer de joie le public déjà conquis.

À la deuxième prise, on se sent au départ dans une marche dans le désert… les charbons sont ardents, le sable nous brûle les paupières, les verres se vident, les grelots se déposent sur les peaux des batteries… Et puis BANG! Le tout dégringole, comme grisé par le soleil jusqu’à ce qu’on croie être une finale… Et BOUM! La tubiste se lève de sa chaise, envoûtante et rythmée, elle danse et respire, tout en s’exécutant à merveille. Lussier titille la note en avançant le menton; cela est juste et bon.
Une autre pièce enchaîne, avec une envolée comme une sorte de mashed potatoes pour robots avec les membres bien huilés. Puis une autre plus douce, lente et chaude comme l’été qui s’étire… Kuster frappe alors son égoïne pendant que Lussier touche ses cordes d’hélices. On s’approche alors de l’hymne tzigane, qui tend la main jusqu’aux rythmes klezmer d’avant-garde. L’accordéon de Luzio Altobelli s’envole, puis sursaute. On est suspendu à ses notes, comme des petites particules en apesanteur…

Chaque morceau nous éloigne et nous rapproche à la fois. De quoi? De la parfaite imperfection qu’est la vie, suspendue dans le souffle grave, haletant dans sa course vers la lumière, en harmonie avec les humains qui nous rassemblent, tourmentée par ceux qui nous divisent et émue par le talent qui s’infiltre dans toutes « les cavités du cœur ». Car il y en avait énormément dans ce quintette qui s’envole bientôt pour le Japon pour une série de concerts.

Entre improvisation et partitions, on reste soufflée par la manière dont chacun manie son instrument. S’il faut mettre le talent des autres à part, c’est pour mettre en lumière le maître d’œuvre, René Lussier, dont on reconnaît sans peine l’empreinte. Cavalier bleu devant l’éternel, le compositeur et interprète apparaît ici au sommet de son art, calme et inspiré, mais jamais trop sérieux. De cette explosion d’origine contrôlée, gageons que les spectateurs nippons en redemanderont.

https://medium.com/@mpfrappier24

Downbeat, may 2017
Josef Woodard in Victoriaville

Guitar culture from off to the side of normal is routine in Victoriaville, and the instrument was again well-represented. It was a pleasure to hear one of Canada’s most intriguing and stubbornly hard-to-categorize artists, Lussier, in action with his René Lussier Quintette—replete with accordionist Luzio Altobelli and tubist Julie Houle, and two drummers. Somehow, Lussier, on his Les Paul and on the bovine-esque serenading tool, the Daxophone, freely accessed a rangy musical menu variously suggesting Quebecois/Acadian folk, roadhouse rock grit, noise/free improv, raggedy cool Captain Beefheart-ishness (another bovine connection) and the nameless, half-crazed domain that is Lussier’s musical world.

Sylvain Cormier
Le Devoir 12 octobre 2018
CRITIQUE Musique

René Lussier, encore et toujours là, et bien là. Son œuvre, à mille pattes et à cent guitares, ne cesse d'évoluer... dans tous les sens! Voilà notre trésor vivant de la musique hors normes en formation «René Lussier Quintette», et le résultat est riche, insaisissable et pas mal indescriptible. Ils ont Marc Ribot, nous avons René Lussier. Ce n’est pas une comparaison, mais un repère, une géolocalisation, comme on dit dans l’univers connecté du XXIe siècle. Depuis plus de quarante ans de constante création, où le groupe Conventum, le coffret du Trésor de la langue et la musique du Moulin à images de Robert Lepage ne sont que des points de lumière apparus furtivement sur l’écran radar, René Lussier pousse et repousse les limites de ce qu’un guitariste-compositeur (et parfois auteur) peut accomplir. Le voilà en quintette, et ce qui s’y passe en compagnie des Luzio Altobelli (à l’accordéon), Julie Houle (au tuba et à l’euphonium), Robbie Kuster (à la batterie gauche !) et Marton Madesrspach (à la batterie droite !) défie la description : en vrac, disons qu’il y a là-dedans du prog, du jazz, du trad, du métal, parmi moult bruitages singuliers. Qu’en dire ? Que c’est un passionnant souque à la corde entre le familier et le déroutant. Comme la vie.
René Lussier, Quintette
★★★ 1/2
Musique actuelle
René Lussier, Quintette, Circum-Disc


Shiro Kawakami
Euro Rock Press / Marquee Inc. 8/10/2018

1- This was your first visit to Japan. Please explain how this gig had been realized

Koichi Makigami and Rie Murakami (from the Jazz Art Sengawa Festival) were present when the Quintette played for first time at the 2017 FIMAV, Victoriaville international music festival in Québec, Canada. In the perspective of exchanging cultural events between Japan and Québec, they invited us to play in Tokyo. It was a long and extended work to get the work permits! With some help from our government (art council) to pay airfare, we finally got to Japan. Many thanks to Koichi Makigami who organised many gigs for my band and made it possible.

2. The quintet that visited Japan with you was formed in 2016. Was it formed for producing a new album, QUINTETTE, or as a result of the formation of the band, QUINTETTE was recorded?

I dreamed for a long time of a permanent ensemble with 2 drums, because I wanted to experiment some composition ideas. In December 2016, I was finally able to bring together these exceptional musicians. I am really grateful because when they accepted to work with me, I could not assure any gigs or recording. A little like a garden, when you put a seed in the earth, you may have an idea of what the plant should be, but you don’t know if or how it will grow, and you don’t know if the weather will let it live. Eventually, we got the gig at FIMAV and a few others that convinced me to go on with this project. As the character of the compositions implied a lot of rehearsals, I was lucky to get grant that enabled me to pay at least symbolically my musicians. I then decided to record some of the work we did in those workshop, to keep the band alive and push us forward. The whole process is still a work in progress.

3. As the members of the quintet is not widely known in Japan, please introduce each of them to our readers.

Julie Houle: tuba, euphonium
Lutzio Altobelli: accordeon.
Robie Kuster, batterie.
Marton Maderspach, batterie.
The four are creative musicians with (unlike me!) academic backgrounds. Each is very active and plays with a constellation of ensembles in Montreal. They also have their own personal projects. I was attracted by their interest in improvisation, their open mindedness, enthusiasm, versatility. This project asks every player to be a soloist. Exploring their multiple talents, pushing back their limits and mine has been thrilling, uplifting, and inspiring.

4. Were the tracks played in your gig in Japan all from the new album, QUINTETTE? Please let us know the set list of your gig at Sengawa Theater in Tokyo on September 16, which I attended.

Some of the tracks on the CD were not played in Sengawa. Following the offer to include Japanese musicians into our concerts, I chose to include three new pieces that could involve them with little rehearsal.

Set list at Sengawa Jazz Art

Eau forte
Céphalopodes
Groove d’enfer
L’effort du vent (with gests?)
Migration
Barré (with gests)
5 accords (with gests)
Les axes de la boussole (with gests)
La tête dans les rouages
(Encore) Les cavités du cœur

5. On the stage on September 16, you played with Takashi Harada, an Ondes Martenot player, and Koichi Makigami, a vocalist and theremin player. Had you known them before you came to Japan? Please tell us about your impression about playing with them.

I had met Koichi only once in 2017 to talk of the possibility for the band to play in Japan. But I knew his reputation of crazy vocal improvisations. As for Takashi Harada, I did not know anything about him. I discovered later that he was a reference as a player and a composer in the Onde Martenot community. Later, on the small tour we did, we also played with Wataru Ohkuma (clarinets), Miwa Kogure (percussions) and Michiyo Yagi (koto). Those meetings into the Quintette répertoire were great fun and it was a privilege to share and play my music with those fantastic musicians!
While I was in Tokyo, I also played two intense duos. One with Otomo Yoshihide (guitars) and the other with Uchihashi Kazuhisa (daxophones). Two gentlemen I already had played with a long time ago and was delighted to meet again.

6. After CONVENTUM, you actively released many albums and were engaged in musical activities, while frequently working with Fred Frith in many projects, but we haven't heard a lot about your activities since the turn of the century. Looking back, it appears to coincide with the timing when Fred shifted his activities to composition and education. Did you reduced the weight on band activities with his? Or your updates haven't just reached Japan?

I played with Fred (a lot of projects) between 1986 and 2000 with great excitement. He was a significant figure for me. When I learned that he stopped his Guitar Quartet after ten years, I was really sorry but understood his decision. I had been touring a lot myself with my own projects and also with other bands. I realized that I too needed to travel less. Take more time to compose and explore new ventures. For five years, I taught improvisation classes at Montreal Conservatory of Music and yes, I worked more locally, but with the same intensity. I composed, directed and produced a bunch of CD’s (www.renelussier.ca). I needed to open windows in a lot of directions, on whatever pleased me. Eventually, I moved to the country (3 hours from Montreal) and built a studio where I could experiment, rehearse, and record on a daily basis. I did a lot of studio work and sound tracks for films, giant projections on buildings (Moulin à Images), played gigs with all sorts of players in a variety of styles: traditional folk music, rock, noise, country swing, free, etc. I never stopped composing.

7. The cover of your solo album in '01, DEBOUTONNE, features buttons and threads. What do they mean? The design in which the album jacket is tied actually by the tread is also fantastic and is a bit similar to the jacket of SOLOS DE GUITARE ELECTRIQUE. Please comment.

DEBOUTONNÉ means “unbuttoned”. I felt tied up in the Montreal’s small and consanguineous “musique actuelle” scene of those years. I needed new blood. I went along my path. The guitare solos participate of the same spirit.

8. I was surprised when I heard a Hawaiian track in GRAND VENT ('03). In LE PRIX DU BONHEUR ('05), you pursued music that was like fusing Hawaiian and chanson. What was the idea about these?

In 1997 I did the soundtrack for an animation movie, “À l’ombre” by the filmmaker Tali. She wanted a hawaiian feel, so I listened to a lot of vintage music from the 1930’s and really totally loved it. Great guitar music, lightness and spirituality, far from the clichés of Hollywood. Purely for fun, I would say freely, I learned the songs, put some french words on it, made a song project with the words of Paule Marier. Some people loved it, others called me “traitor” to experimental music! I always was an eclectic composer. Interested in all kinds of music. I don’t believe in boundaries. I feel I have to learn from everything and never stop learning. As I am not a singer, learning those songs and singing them myself was certainly as experimental as anything I ever did!

9. You haven't released albums from Ambiances Magnétiques recently. Does this mean that you are keeping away from the label?

Yes I am keeping away from Ambiances Magnétiques, the label I founded in 1984. The divorce was painful.

10. Going forward, what kind of music do you plan to develop?

I certainly will continue with the Quintette for more compositions, recordings and gigs. This project is a new milestone in my career, both as a composer and a performer. It embodies a breath of fresh air!
Also, I hope I will keep getting commissions to compose for other small and big ensembles as I still need to earn a living. I am presently working on a new piece commissioned by the Tim Brady Guitar Quartet (Montreal).
As a player, I will also go on and nourish precious relations with musicians I have been playing with for a very long time. Martin Tétreault (turntables), Robert M. Lepage (clarinet), Liette Remon (violin), and the joyous and shifted cover band MEUH!


VITAL WEEKLY #59 week 48

RENE LUSSIER QUINTETTE (CD by Circum Disc)
For years and years I followed every next step by René Lussier, a Canadian guitarist and one of the founding forces - together with Duchesne, Lepage and Derome - of the Ambiances Magnétiques Collective. He started way back in the 70s with Conventum, followed by Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar, Keep the Dog and The Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, etc. Besides he worked also intensively with Martin Tetréault. So we are speaking here of a true innovator and creative musician. I can’t recall how it happened, but gradually I lost him out of sight. Maybe it had to do with the fact he didn’t release many albums in the last few years. Anyway, what a surprise it is to have a new work by him. If my view on his career is more or less correct, this release marks a
return to more melodic material, and is not in continuity with his very experimental sound work with Tetréault. He composed themes that are sometimes evoking influences of world music. For this they are reminding me of work of old mates like Lars Hollmer and Fred Frith. With this new quintet he choose to work with a younger generation of musicians: Marton Maderspach and Robbie Kuster (drums), Julie Houle (tuba, euphonium) and Luzio Altobelli (accordion). Maderspach is a Canadian drummer active mainly in jazz group Misses Satchmo. Altobelli was part of Fanfare
Pourpour, just as Julie Houle. Lussier himself plays electric guitar as well as the daxophone, an instrument developed by that other phenomenal guitarist, the late Hans Reichel. So a very uncommon set of instruments. Lussier works with these musicians since the end of 2016 and they developed into a very tight playing unit. This is a truly fascinating next step of avant rock by Lussier and his colleagues, for some reason released by the French Circum Disc label. Lussier describes
it as “a work-in-progress where everyone's a soloist. Exploring their multiple talents, pushing back their limits and mine is thrilling, uplifting, and inspiring. The project revolves around densely written modular pieces where up to five parts are overlaid.” An interactive play of improvising and playing with composed characteristics, resulting in very complex and solid compositions. Colourfully and unusually arranged. A joy! (DM)


Spontaneousmusictribune.com Poland
Rene Lussier Quintette (CD, Circum-Disc, 2018)

Pozostajemy w Ameryce Północnej (być może nie dodałem, iż Colin Fisher, to muzyk amerykański), by na kilka chwil pochylić ucho na kolejną już na tych łamach nowością wytwórni Circum-Disc. Tym razem w roli głównej legenda sceny Quebec, gitarzysta Rene Lussier. Kwintet przywołany z tytule płyty uzupełniają: Julie Houle na tubie i euphonium, Luzo Altobelli na akordeonie, a także Marton Maderspach i Robbie Kuster na perkusji. Płyta zawiera dziesięć utworów (muzycy bazują na materiale skomponowanym), trwa zaś prawie 52 minuty.

Muzycy zaczynają swój spektakl bardzo tanecznym i melodyjnym krokiem, z pewną na poły francuską ludycznością (czemu sprzyja, rzecz jasna same instrumentarium). Bogata i niebanalna sekcja rytmiczna zdaje się być w tym dziele niezwykle pomocna. Gitara z rockowym zacięciem, która tyczy szlak ttnarracji, ale także świetnie improwizuje. Kind of specific fussion! Chwilami, także z uwagi na tubę i akordeon, muzyka Lussiera przypomina klimatem i matematyczną dokładnością, niektóre nagrania Henry Threadgilla, szczególnie w spokojniejszych metrach. Jest wtedy cierpliwa, skrupulatna, pełna niuansów i dobrej małej gry. Zdarzają się momenty ciszy, chwile onirycznego pół ambientu.

W wielu jednak momentach płyty osobowość lidera zbyt silnie determinuje zachowania pozostałych członków Kwintetu. Mimo, iż tworzą świetny background dla pozostającej niemal bez przerwy w grze gitary, rzadko dostają przestrzeń dla własnych, solowych eksploracji. Dynamiczne odcinki ociekają gitarowymi emocjami, dużo w nich prądu i eskalowania napięcia. Wysiłki wszystkich muzyków zlewają się jednak w całość i zdają się być trochę powtarzalne. Jakby wbrew drobnym ambiwalencjom recenzenta, płytę kończą jednak bystre drummerskie peregrynacje i krótki, ale naprawdę uroczy pasus akordeonu.

AVANT MUSIC NEWS, USA
Best of 2018

Prolific and eclectic guitarist René Lussier’s credits include more than sixty film soundtracks and more than thirty albums. Lussier’s music, while drawing from a variety of contemporary experimental musical ideas, has a unique sense of melody that is colored by the frequent use of folk like “clogging” motor rhythms that are injected with the power and energy of rock. In addition to his work in experimental music and free improvisation Lussier has performed and recorded with several groups including Conventum, Les 4 Guitaristes de l’Apocalypso-Bar, Fred Frith’s Keep the Dog and The Fred Frith Guitar Quartet.
Lussier’s latest album “Quintette” finds him in the company of drummers Robbie Kuster and Marton Maderspach, Julie Houle – tuba/euphonium and accordionist Luzio Altobelli. Lussier assembled this group at the end of 2016 and they have been rehearsing and performing ever since. His concept for this group was to create music where the written and the improvised live together allowing each performer a lot of freedom while preserving the character of the original composition. Lussier’s arrangements continually shift roles across the instruments as the music’s modules are overlaid on one another. The result is ten pieces of tuneful, energetic and imaginative music that is simultaneously precise, frantic and wild. “Quintette” is an album that I believe should turn up on many “Best of 2018” lists. Highly recommended!

Chris DeChiara usa, IL.

Salt Peanuts.eu På skive
RENÉ LUSSIER QUINTETTE
«René Lussier Quintette»
CIRCUM DISC / PASUNECENNE , MICROCIDISC012/PUC-21

Canadian, Québec-based prolific and always versatile guitarist-daxophone player-composer René Lussier continues to reinvent himself, now with a new quintette, releasing its debut album on his own his own label PasUneCenne and the French label Circum disc. The quintette offers s a unique instrumentation – two drummers, Robbie Kuster and Marton Maderspach, accordionist Luzio Altobelli, tuba and euphonium player Julie Houle and Lussier himself.
Lussier began to work with this quintette in December 207, kept rehearsing it on a regular basis and recorded it over four days studio sessions in Montréal in February 2018. He sees the quintette as a work in progress, a unit that experiments a challenging sonic aesthetics. In this quintette everyone is a soloist. All explore his Lussier modular pieces, overlaying their own personal interpretations of his compositional ideas. Compositional themes and improvised segments blend into and extend each other in an organic interplay. And roles are constantly shifting in a variable geometry of functions, so that each part can be shared by the whole band. In short: a recipe that pushes all out of any comfort zone into their outer limits.
And it works beautifully. The quintette has its experimental side, sometimes even a dadaist one as on «Groove D’enfer», but it swings and it rocks, has an infectious groove and a strong and passionate folk flavor. Furthermore, it sounds as all had great fun playing Lussier set of ten imaginative, playful compositions, with great focus on detail, a sense of humor and irony as on the complex «Céphalopodes». Lussier himself is in top form and has few outstanding solos on the electric guitar and the daxophone. And the most beautiful composition her, the dramatic «Migrations» that encompasses all sides of the quintette, emphasizes how great art and real life are inseparable.
Lussier says that this projects is a new milestone in his career. «It embodies a breath of fresh air, and there’s nothing more I would like than to share it with you!» Trust him.
Eyal Hareuveni
René Lussier (g, daxophone), Luzio Altobelli (acc), Julie Houle (tuba, euph), Robbie Kuster (dr), Marton Maderspach (dr)

15. januar 2019
Av Jan Granlie

Rene Lussier Quintette - 2018 - "Rene Lussier Quintette "

This is the first time I have come across Lussier, but apparently he is well-known in his native Canada, having provided more than sixty film soundtracks and thirty albums, for which he has won multiple awards. He has been involved in multiple projects and bands, with the mos well-known being The Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, and as well as working with different collaborators he has composed commissioned works for Vancouver’s Now Orchestra and Hard Rubber Orchestra, Societe de Musique Contemporaine du Quebec, and New York ensemble Bang on a Can, among others. What all of his works in common is that he improvises and experiments, and that is definitely true of this album. I have never come across a quintet of this musical line-up, as for a start there are two drummers (and it can’t be guaranteed that either of them are playing at any one time let along both [powering through together). Then add to that an accordionist, and another musician who switches between euphonium and tuba. That just leaves Lussier himself, who provides electric guitar and daxophone. No, that’s not a typo, but is an electric wooden experimental musical instrument which was invented in the Eighties. Musically this is RIO crossed with free jazz and krautrock, and is far out in left field that the guys have actually left the stadium and are somewhere in the next state. Musically it is a mess, as the guys go off on tangents and create strange sounds and arrangements, yet somehow it all makes sense at the same time and that is something I am having real problems getting my ears around. Every fibre of my being tells me that this is awful and how on earth can I be listening to this weird collection of instruments and experimental ideas, yet at the same time I find myself enjoying it as there is something within it that holds it together. There is a structure which all the guys adhere to, and although it may be weird and twisted, it is most definitely there, and they can spin in a new direction as a single entity, or drop the music dead. Strange and unusual it may be, but it is also a compelling piece of work for the deranged.

Progtector: December 2018, Uzbekistan.

Reviews of artist releases: THE SQUID’S EAR

Rene Lussier
Quintette
(Circum-Disc)

review by Massimo Ricci 2019-11-04 ROMA

The unyielding excellence of René Lussier's output over several decades causes a lot of head scratching to this reviewer; in fact, the feeling here is that the Quebecoise composer, guitarist and daxophone virtuoso is still criminally underrated. A founding member of the equally unsung Conventum, one of the finest ever groups of RIO rootage, the man has been releasing rather extraordinary records such as Le Corps De L'Ouvrage and, especially, Le Trésor De La Langue. Add the partnerships with Fred Frith, Jean Derome, Robert Lepage, Chris Cutler, Tom Cora, Gilles Gobeil to mention just a handful. In spite of this curriculum — not to mention the music's sharpness — Lussier's name is rarely mentioned in the (admittedly foolish) "best of" discussions most everywhere.
But fear not, Lussier keeps working hard and — judging from this very album — having a lot of fun, which translates into unconditional gratification for atypicality-seeking ears. The Quintette features a peculiar orchestration: the leader on guitar and daxophone, plus Julie Houle (tuba, euphonium), Luzio Altobelli (accordion), Robbie Kuster and Marton Maderspach (drums, respectively on the left and right channel of the stereo field). Imagine a small conspiratorial fraction of a military band evicted from its original context, and entirely rewired to capitalize on odd meters and quirky melodic materials.
The ten tracks explicate the concept through arrangements that startle at every turn. Space for improvising is evidently allowed, but never in unjustified abundance. For what I'm able to detect there's no trace of decisive influences, the scores seemingly dictated more by natural events and sudden flashing bulbs than precise "stylistic" choices. A folkish tune may get shattered into serialist smithereens; reposeful interludes act as preambles for subsequent outbursts of lucid madness; Lussier's distorted tones join contrapuntal pirouettes that few instrumentalists could recreate. "Migrations" begins with a somewhat droning introduction, then it turns into "drunk Ennio Morricone" thematic wavering, ultimately ending into another festival of East-European accents shifting amidst limb-entangling tempos. Got it? René Lussier is a goddam genius.